Hi ....I am having problems with my electrical...my 60 amp

Customer Question

Hi ....I am having problems with my electrical...my 60 amp sub panel breaker is breaking more and more frequently....i live in older home and the main box outside and inside panel to replace fuse box was updated years ago without any problems untill now...it seems to break when i turn on microwave but it happened when microwave was off and i turned off everything on the circuit....the firdge is on that circuit so i didnt turn that off...if the breaker is going like that....what would be most common problem? a short in the system? i dont think it is over loaded if it happens when everything is off ...can you give me possible problems? thanks, Josh

Hello there and welcome to Just Answer. My name is XXXXX XXXXX I will be assisting you today. I am an engineer with over 30 years of electrical and electronic training, repair and installation experience. I will try and answer your question accurately and precisely so that we can get you on your way.

I need some additional information from you in order to fully understand the situation.

When you say the panel is 'breaking' I assume that you mean that the main breaker in the sub panel is tripping. Is that the case or is the main breaker in the older main panel?

its not the main breker....it is sub breaker 60 amp...things connected to this breaker are kitchen...fridge,microwave,lights,dishwasher....also my bedroom air cond,tv,lights....i turned everything off this morning and it still happened...it has happened maybe 5 different days over past few weeks...always happens like 3 am for some odd reason...this is the main box outside and i have smaller breaker box inside but not trippin anything there....you need any more info?

yes that is a possibility....however it doesnt make sense i have air blasting and tv on and ceiling fan going now and lights on in kitchen and it is fine.....but at 2-3 am when i turn on microwave it trips breaker....my question is why would it trip breaker when almost everything is not running at 3 am and not now and everything is running

no on time the light in hallway tripped it...and this morning it tripped on its own after i reset it...microwave wasnt even running....there maybe over load on breaker but with nothing actually on at the time would that make sense? could it be a short?

Customer:replied 1 year ago.

lastly...if it is over loaded could i put in bigger breaker or add another leg on panel with another breaker? i am getting electrician later this week...so dont need absolute answers ...just want your opinion on options for me...thanks

hi Steve, i was having problems with my 60 amp sub breaker tripping ...i have figured out what is on that circuit...i have a 15 year old swamp cooler that is leaking water because float is broke...since i unplugged the unit i havent had any more problems...is it possible the cooler was trippin breaker even when it was off just pluged in?

Steve, i do have a GFI receptacle in the kitchen....also the receptor where the swamp cooler is the old school one...have to have adapter to plugin...would it be good idea to upgrade that receptor? can you have more than 1 gfi recptor on one circuit?

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